Many modes of on-line communication over networks exist in the art. By way of example, real-time messaging systems exist, where users are provided with unique identifiers and may define themselves as part of a group (e.g., friends or family members). As such, a member of a group can identify when other members of the group are on-line and exchange messages, in real-time, with those members. Conventional real-time messaging systems suffer from the drawback that a recipient's unique identifier must be known and a user's group members must be on-line to communicate. If they are not, communications are typically not stored for later delivery.
Another mode of on-line communication is commonly referred to as a “chat room.” In these systems, a user typically logs into the site. Once logged in, any message a user sends is broadcast to everyone else logged into the chat room. Messages sent are typically displayed on a common message space, which may fill up quickly, depending on the activity within the particular room. Any number of users, including none, may respond to any message sent to the chat room. These responses are also displayed on the common message space. In many cases, chat rooms are focused around a particular topic, interest, or category of user (e.g., teen, college student, senior citizen, or the like). Users may participate in any number of chat rooms at the same time. Chat rooms suffer from the drawback that all postings are public and there is no limit to the number of responses one might receive to a question, comment or request for advice. Also, there is no quality control with regard to the competence of the person providing a response to a question or request for advice with regard to a particular topic.
Bulletin boards provide another mode of on-line communication. In the case of Bulletin boards, users need not be logged on at the same time to exchange communications. Bulletin boards are similar to chat rooms in that all postings are typically public. However, unlike chat rooms, communication does not typically occur in real-time. A user may post questions and/or comments, for example, on a common message space. Over a period of time, others may log into the bulletin board and post responses to the user's comments and/or comments. This process typically continues in an ongoing fashion. Bulletin boards suffer from the same deficiencies as chat rooms, along with the further deficiency of communications not necessarily being in real-time.
Emails are another mode of on-line communication in which messages may be passed between users, without requiring that the users be connected to the network at the same time. In this case, a sender typically specifies an email address of the person(s) (i.e., recipient(s)) to whom the email is being sent. The sender may also specify a plurality of recipient email addresses as an email “group,” which when received by a server, causes the email to be sent to the entire group of recipients. Emails suffer from the drawback that a sender must wait for a response until a recipient logs onto the network and reads his/her email. A unique identifier for the recipient(s) is required in these communications as well.
Help desk models provide other modes of on-line communication. Modern computer network help desk models typically operate in a similar fashion to conventional telephone-based help desk models. More particularly, the telephone-based version employs an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system for routing help requests. ACD systems typically include a plurality of operators and a system for receiving and routing requests. When a request is received, it is forwarded to the next available service person. In this kind of system, the user has no advance notice of the service person that responds to the request. Users are limited in the number of simultaneous requests they can place to the system at any time. Service persons are also limited, to a lesser degree, in the number of requests they can process at any one time.
Additional drawbacks of ACD systems relate to time consumption and efficiency. By way of example, if a service person determines he/she is unqualified to help the user, he/she typically routes the user back into a queue, in some cases, a queue of service persons uniquely qualified to attend to the particular type of problem the user is experiencing. The user then waits again to be routed out of the queue. If the service person attempts to provide assistance, and subsequently determines that he/she is unqualified to provide the assistance, the user is once again typically routed back into the queue. The process can be time consuming and in some cases require the user to wait in multiple queues prior to receiving any meaningful assistance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new paradigm for enabling users to exchange information in a online environment.